WELCOME TO THE BURROUGHS PROJECT
We at The Burroughs Project are dedicated to discussing how Isaiah Martinez (hereinafter "IMAR") can beat the all-time great Jordan Burroughs at Final X on June 15 in Lincoln, Nebraska. To do this, we have assembled a group of the best wrestling analysts from across the globe, including Ben Askren and Sun Tzu. The first order of business, of course, is to know our enemy.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Jordan Burroughs is a medium-sized land mammal of the Family: Hominidae, with a scientific species name of Homo Sapien. He is believed to be between the ages of 30 and 60, and weigh from 150 to 300 pounds. He enjoys cooking salmon and pineapple, which he apparently ingests at some point.
Burroughs will have a hometown crowd and home cooking, including that tasty salmon and pineapple dinner. He has experience in age, and in having wrestled many tough freestyle matches while facing great pressure. He is very quick and has the advantage of having won the last Final X matchup with IMAR by a 2-0 count. So, how does IMAR beat him this time?
Our panel of experts has determined that IMAR must wrestle like a Russian. Trying to out-quick Burroughs, even at his advanced age, is not a winner. On the other hand, the major problems that Burroughs has had in the past have been caused by Russian wrestlers.
PROBLEMS WITH RUSSIANS
Burroughs' first World Championship loss came to Russian Denis Tsargush. His first loss in the Olympics was to Russian Aniuar Geduev, and his last loss in a World Championship came to current World Champion Zaurbek Sidakov, a Russian.
THE SIDAKOV MATCH
Let us look at the match between Burroughs and Sidakov. As you can see from the video, Sidakov is taller and leaner than IMAR. He almost looks gangly. On the other hand, he is an underhook specialist like the ILLINI legend.
At the beginning of the match it is apparent that Sidakov wants to tie up with Burroughs. Burroughs lets him. At the :31 second mark, the Russian has his first underhook dug in. Within a couple of seconds, tries a shrug that looks amazingly like the one in this IMAR video for Rudis:
Sidakov is unsuccessful because his shrug is too powerful, and Burroughs is flung across the mat. This is evidence that the great Jordan Burroughs can be susceptible to the short offense. Up to this point, Burroughs has attempted two ankle grabs, which weren't true ankle picks. He just reached out and tried to grab the Russian's ankle. The ref is not buying it, and gives Burroughs a first caution for stalling at :49.
(Doubtful that IMAR can count on something like that in Lincoln.).
At 1:14, Sidakov digs in his second underhook. At 1:40, the ref puts Jordan Burroughs on the clock. At 1:54, Sidakov digs in his third underhook. While still on the clock, Burroughs tries a shrug, but doesn't get much separation.
This is where Sidakov commits wrestling malpractice and should have lost the match:

How many times have we seen a Burrough's re-attack while sitting on his haunches? At a minimum, Sidakov should've had his hands up to push Burroughs to the side. Defend yourself at all times! Instead of going up 1-0, the Russian gives up the takedown and goes down 0-2.
According to Google, a snake has a striking distance equal to a third to a half the snake's length. The striking distance of a Jordan Burroughs is up to eight-feet away.
At 2:35, Sidakov is jamming in his fourth underhook, and he is doing it with authority, like IMAR. By 2:38, he's running a head-pinch and moving quickly around Burroughs who is trying to step over him. Burroughs fails, and Sidakov secures the takedown via head-pinch. Here's a video of Ben Askren teaching the IMAR head-pinch:
At 4:38 of the Burroughs/Sidakov video, the Russian again commits malpractice and is not ready for a Burroughs re-attack. For this one, he wisely stepped out, giving up only one point. This gives the American the 3-2 lead. Sidakov attempts a sloppy double at 5:45 and ends up in a front headlock for a few energy-draining seconds. That's not how you score on Burroughs!
At 7:12, Sidakov proves me a liar and shoots a very ugly high-crotch/single leg from distance and scores. Burroughs definitely lost a step there. Burroughs comes back and scores with 8.4 seconds left on the clock with a snatch single that he turns into a double. That gives him the lead. Sidakov's winning move was to dive at Burrough's ankle, work his way up, and with time expiring, carry the American off the mat.
CONCLUSION
Burroughs was susceptible to the short offense of an under-hooker. Sidakov was remarkable in his ability to hit those moves with violence and speed. On the other hand, the Russian was dim-witted when it came to Burroughs' re-attacks. Sidakov disguised much of his offense with hand-fighting. Later in the match, Burroughs became susceptible to leg attacks.
Although the transitive property is not too useful, it can provide some encouragement. During the last World Cup, IMAR beat the Iranian by the same margin that World Champion Sidakov beat the Iranian.
NEXT UP FOR THE BURROUGHS PROJECT: Aniuar Geduev
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